News Archives - Page 66 of 66 - Team2Soft

06
Feb

Sony has announced plans to sell off its iconic VAIO brand of PCs to a Japanese investment fund. While Japan Industrial Partners (JIP) will continue selling VAIO-branded computers in Japan, Sony plans to now focus on its mobile lineup of smartphones and tablets. VAIO, which stands for Visual Audio Intelligent Organizer, was first introduced 18 years ago in 1996.

While VAIO and bio sound identical in Japanese, the VAIO name also has a phonetic connection to the world violet. Sony started building its PCs with purple color schemes, and the firm has transformed the brand into a name that has been associated with high-end computers ever since.

VAIO might not be dead yet, but take a moment to look back at some of Sony’s historic, beautiful, expensive, and crazy PC creations.

The first Sony VAIO PC arrived in 1996. Sony’s PCV-90 combined a 166MHz processor with 16MB of RAM, a 2.1GB HDD, and a 28.8-kbps modem. It shipped with a 3D graphical interface on top of Windows 95, aiming to entice novice computer users.

One of the first-generation VAIO notebooks shipped in 1997. For $2,000, Sony’s PCG-505 included an Intel Pentium MMX processor, 32MB of RAM, and a 10.4-inch SVGA screen. It was designed to be “SuperSlim,” and manufactured with a four-panel magnesium body.

Sony also launched the PCG-707 in 1997. With a CD-ROM drive, TFT LCD screen, and Intel Pentium MMX processor, its battery lasted for around three hours. Sony also shipped an extended battery to boost battery life, a trend that continued on to other VAIO laptops.

Branded “PictureBook,” Sony’s VAIO C1 series introduced the idea of a built-in webcam to its notebook range in 1998. It was a tiny notebook with an 8.9-inch display and a 0.27-megapixel camera built into the lid that could swivel around. Windows 98 shipped with the original model.

Sony returned to its Walkman roots with its MX series in 2000. Early models included an FM tuner, MiniDisc player, and built-in amplifier. The front of the PC tower also featured an LCD display with audio information. Combined with a set of speakers and a remote control, it was Sony’s fist attempt at an all-in-one media PC.

Sony’s VAIO line entered a truly experimental phase in late 2000. The high-end model of the LX series shipped with a stylus and a display that tilted up to 65 degrees. It also included a palm rest and keyboard cover, and Sony’s pen-equipped PC shipped a whole year before Bill Gates unveiled Microsoft’s Windows XP-powered tablet PC.

The original VAIO W, released in early 2002, combined a PC with TV features. A built-in antenna input brought TV to this 15.3-inch PC, and the keyboard folded up onto the display thanks to a hinge mechanism. This particular model debuted ahead of Microsoft’s Windows XP Media Center Edition, software that started to combine TV and media features into a single hub.

Originally introduced in 2002, Sony’s U series of VAIO computers looked like tiny portable DVD players. Initial models shipped with Transmeta Crusoe processors, before moving to Intel Celeron and Pentium processors. At the time, it was the world’s smallest and lightest PC running Windows XP.

Sony’s first VAIO Z notebook arrived at the dawn of Intel’s Centrino era, and just as Wi-Fi networks were becoming more popular. With a sleek and attractive design, it shipped with a 14.1-inch 1400 x 1050 display that was unique at the time. An extended battery allowed the slim Z to run for seven hours on a single charge years before anyone knew what an “ultrabook” was.

Sony’s VAIO X505 had some impressive specs when it first debuted in 2004. It was just 0.38 inches at its thinnest point, and used Intel’s ultra-low voltage Pentium processor. It was the first laptop to feature a “chiclet” keyboard, named for its small rounded keys that resemble Chiclets gum. All of this was packaged into a $3,000 notebook years before Apple unveiled its MacBook Air.

While Sony introduced its U series previously, the UX series followed two years later just as Microsoft’s ultra-mobile PC initiative with Samsung was starting to take shape. The UX models included a slide-out keyboard, touchscreen, and Intel’s Core 2 Solo processor. A 4.5-inch display was the centerpiece of the device, with buttons on either side for additional controls. Sony also shipped the UX with a fingerprint reader. Sony’s UX made its way onto several TV shows and movies, including Terminator Salvation and Quantum of Solace.

The VAIO SZ was yet another expensive, high-specced machine, featuring the latest processors, display technology, and even a fingerprint sensor, all in a tiny package. Its claim to fame, however, was its hybrid graphics. Each notebook gave users the ability to switch between integrated Intel graphics and a discrete GeForce GPU from Nvidia. The Intel option would give long battery life, while the Nvidia card would give you the power needed to play games. The same concept is now used in popular notebooks from several manufacturers, although modern machines are now capable of switching graphics automatically while the laptop is on.

After its experiments bringing TV and PC features together, Sony launched an all-in-one in 2005 with Windows Media Center Edition. A built-in TV tuner card and 20-inch display made it a good alternative to other media center PCs available at the time. It was also a powerful PC with a 3GHz Intel Pentium 4 processor, 1GB of RAM, and 250GB of storage.

At the height of the Blu-ray vs. HD DVD war, Sony released the world’s first first Blu-ray-equipped notebook in 2006. It went on sale for a pricey $3,499 at launch, and was largely considered a desktop replacement. High-end models shipped with a 17-inch display running at full 1080p resolution and Intel’s latest Core Duo processors. It might have been the first with Blu-ray at the time, but with a battery life between 1.5 and 3 hours it wasn’t the best choice for portable computing. Sony’s support of Blu-ray helped the format win the standards war in 2008 after Toshiba stopped developing HD DVD players.

At first glance, visitors to the Sony Store in 2006 could be forgiven for thinking the VAIO VA1 was a flat-screen TV. Created at a time when PC manufacturers were convinced media center PCs were the next big thing, it paired a 19-inch 1680 x 1050 display with a powerful CPU, large hard drive, built-in TV tuner, and a DVD drive.

Sony’s VAIO P first launched in 2009 as an ultraportable notebook in a tiny form factor. Designed as an expensive and smaller alternative to popular netbooks at the time, the VAIO P shipped with an 8-inch display and 1600 x 768 resolution. You could use it as notebook replacement, but the underpowered Intel Atom processor meant performance wasn’t great. Due to its size, Sony originally marketed the VAIO P as a pocket-friendly notebook, but the device barely fit into jean pockets despite Sony’s advertising.

Sony’s experimentation with slim and lightweight laptops culminated in the X series. At just 655 grams with a special lighter battery, Sony claimed it was the world’s lightest notebook back in 2009. However, due to its use of an Atom processor, some considered it a netbook-class machine. Either way, it was sleek, thin, and lightweight.

The last ever VAIO Z featured practically everything anyone could ever want in a laptop. Stupidly thin and light, it came with a 13.1-inch full HD matte display, an SSD, and a suitably powerful processor. It also had an interesting port called Light Peak, based on Intel optical technology that we now know as Thunderbolt. With the Light Peak port, you could connect up an external dock that had a discrete graphics card and a Blu Ray drive.

In recent months, Sony has introduced convertible and flipping VAIO PCs alongside Windows 8. Some use magnets to hold themselves in various positions, while others like the VAIO Tap take an interesting approach to the hybrid concept with a keyboard that’s completely separate to its tablet. These latest designs come at a time when the PC market faces a major decline in sales, and it will be up to Sony’s new VAIO owners to decide if convertibles is the way forward or not.

06
Feb

Google is rolling out a new feature that pushes YouTube videos to the top of search results. Search for a song and you’ll now see a Google Now-like card appear at the top of your results, containing a link to the video for the song as well as information on the artist, album, and release date. As Search Engine Watch reports, the cards look a lot like a playable videos, but they’re actually just images that redirect to YouTube.

05
Feb

It’s Sunday, it’s January, and it’s freezing outside. In other words, it’s the perfect day to spend the morning lying in bed, finally catching up on theFriday Night Lights and Battlestar Galactica seasons I somehow missed a few years ago. Normally this is a job for my iPad mini with Retina display, but ever since I lost its Smart Cover watching shows in bed requires a perfect and precarious leaning of tablet against pillow stack. Plus I have another device here with me, one even better-suited to the task.

It’s the Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro, the follow-up to one of the first great Windows 8 ultrabooks. This is a laptop with a twist, a flexible hinge that lets the screen rotate a full 360 degrees. It’s supposedly equal parts laptop and tablet — and this year’s model comes with a massively improved display that ought to make it better in either case. The Yoga 2 Pro is never going to replace the iPad mini for subway rides and mobile gaming, but if it can be both a solid ultrabook and a great in-bed TV, it’ll solidly be worth its $1,049.99 price tag.

As long as it has good battery life, anyway. My charger’s all the way out in the living room, and I’m not getting out of bed anytime soon. Battlestar is a long show.

For the most part, the Yoga 2 Pro feels like any other laptop. The Yoga 13 was actually one of the more restrained, inside-the-box visions for what a Windows 8 device might look like, how it might marry touch with mouse and keyboard. This year’s model is just a hair over 3 pounds, and 0.61 inches thick — imperceptibly both thinner and heavier than the same-size MacBook Air — with a soft, matte gray shell and a textured black palm rest. It’s softly tapered on the sides, with rounded edges that feel comfortable against my wrist. The Yoga isn’t particularly exciting, nor does it feel very high-end, but it’s nice to look at and it’s plenty rugged.

This would be just a normal, thin ultrabook, except when you open the screen nothing stops you from continuing to push. You can open the lid to any angle, including by flipping it all the way around to the underside of the base, so when you hold it the keyboard and screen both face outward. It feels weird the first time, as if you’re about to snap the thing in two, but that hinge is really the story of the Yoga.

THIN, LIGHT, COMFORTABLE — UNEXCITING BUT UNIMPEACHABLE

There are four “modes” in which the Yoga 2 Pro is meant to be used. First and most self-explanatory is “Laptop Mode,” which is how I used the Yoga probably 80 percent of the time and is fundamentally what this device is. It’s a laptop, and a pretty good one at that. The base model has a 1.7GHz Core i3, but it can go as high as a 1.8GHz Core i7; it also has 4GB or 8GB of RAM, and between 128GB and 512GB of solid-state storage. My review unit has a 1.6GHz Core i5, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage — I’d rather have more RAM and less processing power, personally, but that mix worked pretty well for me.

It’s an utterly standard set of laptop specs, and the Yoga 2 Pro performs in kind. It’s fast and responsive, Windows 8.1 apps open and swith without so much as a hiccup, but the machine bends under the pressure of anything more strenuous than watching video. Photoshop runs, but not especially well, and anything resembling a high-end game is basically unplayable.

It lasted 6 hours, 18 minutes on the Verge Battery Test, a once-solid score that has been rendered decidedly average by the impressive efficiency of Intel’s Haswell processors. The MacBook Air lasts nearly twice as long, and even Acer’s ultra-thin Aspire S7 lasts longer — the Yoga could at least get me through the evening when I left my charger at work, but I want more from high-end Haswell machines.

Lenovo’s keyboard continues to be one of my favorites, with those well-spaced, backlit, slightly curved “smile” keys that feel a little shallow but work remarkably well and take almost no getting used to. The trackpad’s still a bit of a problem, as it was on last year’s IdeaPad Yoga 13 — it’s mostly smooth and responsive, but it has real problems recognizing gestures and a strange habit of making the cursor disappear. A little manic back-and-forthing always brought it back, but the trackpad isn’t exactly the picture of reliability or usability.

STAND MODE IS A SHOCKINGLY USEFUL WAY TO USE A LAPTOP

More than anything, the still-finicky trackpad is why I found myself often rotating the Yoga 2 Pro’s screen past its laptop angle, and then flipping the device over so its base became a stand, and the screen sat right up next to my face. This is “Stand Mode” — it’s how I used the device when it was on my coffee table as I watched TV, on my kitchen counter as I did dishes, and next to me in bed as I wiled away the weekend watching Netflix.

At this point it’s essentially a big, heavy tablet in a dock, usable with an external mouse and keyboard but designed to be touched. And designed to be looked at, with a gorgeous 13.3-inch, 3200 x 1800 display. It’s a lot like the screen on the Samsung Ativ Book Plus 9, which is to say it’s beautiful: sharp and vibrant, with great viewing angles and colors and enough pixel density to make any text crisp and all movies beautiful. Along with its surprisingly loud and full set of speakers, the Yoga 2 Pro’s screen — and the device’s ability to put that screen much closer to your face – make it a wonderful machine for watching just about anything.

Lenovo benefits from Windows software makers finally catching up to the high-resolution display revolution, too. Apps like Chrome used to be impossibly small on a screen like this, just a tiny sliver of content with oceans of white space all around. Now that Chrome and other apps are starting to account for these high resolutions — on devices including the Acer Aspire S7 and the Sony Vaio Tap 11 — there’s absolutely no reason not to get one. Especially on a device like the Yoga, where everything it does is designed to put the screen closer to your face.

The Yoga’s hinge does have a slight wobble to it, giving beneath my finger as I tap on the screen — that’s apparently why “Tent” mode exists, urging you to prop the laptop up like a teepee and use it that way to keep the screen steady. I have no idea why that’s useful enough to merit the awkward and precarious propping up of my laptop, and I never once used it; I’d rather just have a sturdier hinge.

IT’S NOT A TABLET, BUT IT CAN ACT JUST ENOUGH LIKE ONE TO WORK SOMETIMES

The fourth mode is “Tablet” mode, in which you flip the Yoga 2 Pro’s screen a full 360 degrees and press it back up against the bottom of the device. You’re left with a big, thick, heavy tablet that I used in one and only one situation: sitting on the train, knees propped up against the seat in front of me, tablet laid on my legs. This is not a tablet in any traditional sense: it’s not portable, it’s not easy to hold in one hand or even two, and there’s nothing quite so awkward as holding the device and having the keyboard underneath your fingertips. (The keyboard automatically shuts off in this mode, but it feels really odd.) The Yoga 2 Pro doesn’t really occupy a space between phone and laptop; it’s a laptop. It’s just a little easier to use on the train.

The accelerometer inside the Yoga 2 Pro knows where you’ve set the screen, and pops up a Windows Toast notification suggesting apps that are optimized for certain modes — drawing apps in Stand Mode, Evernote in Laptop Mode, and the like. There are also a few apps installed, standards like eBay and Netflix, along with a couple of Lenovo utilities for sharing stuff between devices. This is mostly overkill: the touchscreen and on-screen keyboard are a good enough approximation of the mouse and keyboard to make the same apps work fine, and moving the screen a foot closer or further away doesn’t fundamentally change how I used the device anyway. That’s really the point: the Yoga 2 Pro is full of nice optimizations, a few things made slightly better with a spin of the hinge, but it’s a laptop through and through.

Wrap-up

GOOD STUFF

Thin and light

Flexible hinge is really useful

Gorgeous display

BAD STUFF

Only average battery life

Hinge tends to wobble

Jumpy trackpad

LENOVO SUCCEEDS MOSTLY BY DOING LESS

It was true of the IdeaPad Yoga 13, and it’s true of the $1,049 Yoga 2 Pro: it’s mostly successful because it doesn’t try to do too much. Lenovo realized a year ago that though people might want a versatile device that works as well for watching movies in bed as it does for getting work done, the reality is most people spend most of their time getting work done. The Yoga 2 Pro is smartly optimized for its primary task, and then subtly tweaked to work better in other situations too.

There’s really no reason not to recommend the Yoga 2 Pro, as long as you’re okay with a purely functional design. It has solid performance, a good keyboard, a great screen, and a functional-at-worst trackpad. It’s also thin and light enough to go everywhere with me, and versatile enough to be usable everywhere from train seats to coffee shops. It’s a good laptop, and an excellent companion on a cold winter’s morning when there’s a lot of TV to watch and no earthly reason to get out of bed.

Maybe that’s not the four modes Lenovo promises, but they’re the only two I really need.

05
Feb

Looks like Office Depot wasn’t messing with us when it began offering pre-orders of Samsung’s brand-new 12.2-inch tablet ahead of its official US launch; it just jumped the gun a bit. As it turns out, the entire litany of Samsung’s Galaxy tablets announced at CES — which include the 12.2-inch Note Pro and all three sizes in the Tab Pro series– will be available stateside on February 13th. (Update: it appears that the 12.2-inch Tab Pro won’t actually hit the market until March, but everything else will be available on Feb 13th.) Just in case you’re worried about hordes of people trying to grab one as a last-minute Valentine’s Day present, you can also pre-order any of the products starting right now through one of several online retailers like Best Buy, Walmart, Amazon, Fry’s, Newegg and others. There’s no word on any carrier agreements yet,however, and it appears that all four models are WiFi-only. (Update: Samsung confirms that an LTE edition of the Note Pro 12.2 will come to Verizon Wireless later this quarter.)

Pricing varies wildly depending on which model you’re getting. Starting at the low end of the spectrum, you can grab the 8.4-inch Tab Pro (16GB) for $400; the 10.1-inch Tab Pro (16GB) for $500; and the 12.2-inch Tab Pro (32GB) for $650. Last but not least, the productivity powerhouse itself — the Note Pro — can be yours for $750 (32GB) or $850 (64GB). Additionally, the devices come with 50GB Dropbox space for two years, a $25 Google Play credit, three-month trial Hulu Plus subscription, six months of Cisco WebEx Premium 8 and a year subscription with Bloomberg Businessweek.

Samsung also confirms that the new tablets are still outfitted with Magazine UX, which means these products haven’t been affected by the company’s rumored dealwith Google. According to reports from last week, Samsung agreed to tone down the amount of customization and special features in its Android devices. Naturally, if this does happen, we expect it to be a while before it finally takes effect.

04
Feb

Firefox users keen to keep their browsing data up-to-date across devices will soon have one less headache to worry about. Mozilla, makers of the popular open-source browser, has decided to do away with synchronization keys for its Firefox Sync service, opting instead to utilize a simple email and password combo similar to Google Chrome accounts. The change comes after users were forced to store an auto-generated authorization code, which, if lost, would render their bookmarks, passwords and browsing history inaccessible. While it means Sync accounts are a little more traceable, in that Sync data will be directly linked with a user’s email address, the new process will enable Firefox users to quickly restore their browsing data in the event of a catastrophe like a hard drive failure. Mozilla is currently testing the new version of Firefox Sync in Nightly browser builds, meaning you’ll need to install a beta version of Firefox to try it, but we expect it to make its way to a public release in the not-too-distant future.

04
Feb

InfoSonics has unveiled their latest budget priced Android tablet, the verykool T742 KolorPad. The tablet is of the 7-inch variety and in this case, it happens to be powered by a dual-core 1.3GHz processor and running Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. InfoSonics has this one priced at $149, and even managed to include a few extras and cellular connectivity.

The verykool T742 KolorPad ships with the expected, a USB cable for charging. In addition, those looking towards this tablet will find a stereo headset, data cable, travel adapter and case included in the box. As for that cellular connectivity, that means 3G HSDPA (850/1900) and 2G GSM (850/900/1800/1900).

Other specs include a 2500 mAh battery, microSD card slot (with support for cards up to 32GB), a VGA quality front-facing camera and 3 megapixel rear-facing camera. The basics such as GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, 3.5mm headphone jack and USB port will also be found. On the topic of Bluetooth, the tablet does support the HID profile which means you can connect a keyboard, game controller, and more.

There was a fairly detailed set of specs for the tablet, however a few key pieces were missing. InfoSonics didn’t specify the display resolution, and instead simply referred to it as a 7-inch capacitive LCD. There also wasn’t anything in terms of the internal storage. All that having been said, if you happen to be looking for a lower-priced tablet with cellular connectivity, the T742 KolorPad may be one to consider.

04
Feb

In what some fans might call an early Valentines gift,Samsung has officially announced the upcoming availability of its brand new line of “pro tablets” starting February 13. This announcement comes rather quickly after an earlier leak disclosed that very same date.

The highlights of this new generation of Samsung tablets are the Galaxy NotePRO and Galaxy TabPRO 12.2, two of the largest consumer Android tablets in the market. Or rather prosumer, a new breed of users that Samsung is envisioning to take the tablet market by storm. People from this breed are characterized by the desire to employ tablets not just for casual use or content consumption but also for creating content and more serious work. As such, these tablets are endowed by a more than spacious 12.2-inch screens with a pixel resolution of 2560×1600. The 2.3 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor and 3 GB of RAM also touts serious business.

On the software side, the tablets also boast of features andapps that promote productive, like a four-window Multi Window. The 12.2-inch screen also has enough room for a modified on-screen keyboard that now sports additional keys that make it resemble a conventional keyboard. There has been speculation that Samsung’s recent patent cross-licensing deal with Google would, among other things, lead to the removal of the new Magazine UX. But given how close the tablets are to launch, that seems quite unlikely now.

Pre-orders for the tablets will start on February 4 midnight ET and will be available from Samsung.com, Best Buy, Walmart, Amazon, and more. The Galaxy NotePRO 32 GB will sell for $749.99 while the 64 GB has a $849.99 price tag. The Galaxy TabPRO 10.1 sells for $499.99 and the TabPRO 8.9 for $399.99. These three will be available on February 13. The Galaxy TabPRO 12.2, which is priced at $649.99, won’t be available until March. A 4G LTE variant of the Galaxy NotePRO will be available from Verizon sometime later this quarter.

04
Feb

Between a $1 billion debut and rave reviews, it’s probably not a huge shock to you that Grand Theft Auto 5 was the best-selling game of 2013. Regardless, Rockstar Games’ parent company Take-Two Interactive confirmed suspicions today in the company’s financial earnings release. “Grand Theft Auto V finished as the best-selling video game of 2013,” the release states, attributing that claim to NPD. “To date, Grand Theft Auto V has sold-in more than 32.5 million units.”

Even with the game’s mass popularity and somewhat staid approach to world-building, we can’t help but commend Rockstar Games on the achievement — we loved our time in GTA5‘s single-player and (occasionally troubled) online worlds. Now all we can do is hope for an even prettier version on these new game consoles (or PC, for that matter) in 2014, though we don’t expect a repeat performance in the “best-selling game” category. Let’s not get too crazy.

03
Feb

Rumblings of Google Now on the desktop first started surfacing back in December of 2012, but it wasn’t until a couple of weeks ago that it actually broke cover. If you were a user of the Canary build of the Chrome browser you could enable the card alerts by ticking an option buried deep within the recesses of chrome://flags. This week though, Google will bring the desktop version of its virtual assistant to the betas of Chrome on Windows and OS X, as well as Chrome OS. You wont need to dig through any advanced options, you’ll just need to sign in with the same account you use on your handset — so long as you have Now enabled on your phone. Unfortunately, it sounds like Linux users are left out in the cold for now. Presumably that has something to do with how Now ties into existing notification systems on those other platforms (we’ve asked Google to clarify). With Now hitting the beta channel, enabled by default, it’s only a matter of time before Mountain View brings the feature to the masses. But if you’re anything like us, you’re already using the beta build and are maniacally hitting the update button hoping to be among the first customers it rolls out to.